Briefing templates for agencies: 5 fillable PDF questionnaires

Online Marketing & Business, Business, Marketing & Sales

by Stefan Petri

Three minutes of voice message, two screenshots, and the sentence "You're the creative ones, after all" – that's how too many projects begin. With these five briefing sheets, you turn the tables: your clients answer exactly the questions you need, right on the computer. Each question explains in one sentence why you're asking it and shows with an example what a useful answer looks like. The result: fewer follow-up questions, realistic budgets, and revision rounds that focus on what really matters.

Five questionnaires for the most common projects: web design and relaunch, logo and corporate identity, photo and video shoots, SEO and content, as well as a general new client questionnaire.
Real PDF forms with a total of 449 fields – text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, and dropdowns that your customers can fill out and save in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, for example.
★ core questions as a fast track: if you're short on time, just answer the marked questions – and you'll still have everything you need to get started.
Help texts with examples head off vague answers: a date instead of "soon," a budget range instead of "we'll see," "What exactly do you like?" instead of "I just like it.
With a filled-in example for each sheet, three shipping templates, and a guide for customizing in Acrobat Pro and recreating in InDesign.

Once it's set up, you save yourself the search for the right questions on every new project – and spare your clients the guesswork about what you actually want to know.

content

5 items

Project briefings

Web Design & Relaunch Briefing (fillable PDF)

Four pages that turn "Make it modern" into a solid, workable brief: project type, measurable goals, target audience, page count, features, technology, competitors, role models, budget, and start date. A matrix clarifies who supplies texts, photos, and graphics, and four style sliders translate taste into a direction. Fillable PDF with 80 fields, plus a completed example and the guide.

Corporate Identity & Logo Briefing (fillable PDF)

From brand core to first draft: The form asks about the company in one sentence, provable differentiators, no more than three values, and the brand as a person. Six style sliders, logo types with explanations, color preferences with comparisons, and a dedicated no-go question save rounds of revisions – extending to places of use from the browser tab to embroidery. 93 fields on 4 A4 pages, plus a filled-out example and a guide.

Photo & Video Shoot Briefing with Shot List (Fillable PDF)

Everything that needs to be settled before the shooting day: usage and image formats from 16:9 to 9:16, duration and territory of use, visual style via sliders, location with power, parking and permits, people, styling and consents. The centerpiece is a shot list grid with 10 rows, including format and priority selection. 115 fields across 4 A4 pages, plus a filled-out example and a guide.

SEO & Content Onboarding (fillable PDF)

The starting point for any SEO or content project: current status, tools used, goals up to being mentioned in AI answers, unique selling proposition, services by priority, target region, focus keywords, target pages, and competitors. A matrix assigns the content tasks, and further questions clarify time budget and approvals. Fillable PDF with 94 fields, plus a filled-out example and guide.

General New Customer Questionnaire (fillable PDF)

Fill it out once, enjoy lasting peace of mind: master data, five contact roles from approval to accounting, invoice details including e-invoicing (ZUGFeRD, XRechnung, Leitweg-ID), channels, response times, approval rules, confidentiality, and data processing agreements. The form deliberately does not ask for bank details or passwords. 67 fields on 4 A4 pages, plus a completed example and a guide.

Details of the content

Each form comprises four A4 portrait pages and follows the same structure. On page 1, a short walkthrough explains how to fill out, save, and return the form; in the "Your contact with us" box, you enter the contact person, email, phone, and return date before sending. After that, numbered sections guide you through the topics – each with a "Why we ask" sentence, help texts with examples, and suitable field types: dropdowns for budget and timeframe, style sliders for the desired impression, a matrix for the question of who supplies which content, and tables for competitors, keywords, or the shot list.

All fields are named according to a fixed convention (for example txt_web_projekt_domain). This makes it possible to merge completed forms into a spreadsheet in Acrobat Pro. The guide (6 pages) shows how to add your logo, change questions, and add a submit button – and which dimensions, fonts, and export settings you can use to rebuild the forms in your own layout in InDesign. Three email templates for the initial send, the reply to a voice message, and the friendly reminder bring the form into play charmingly rather than bureaucratically.

All briefing forms at a glance

Project briefings

Web design & relaunch briefing (fillable PDF)
Corporate identity & logo briefing (fillable PDF)
Photo & video shoot briefing with shot list (fillable PDF)
SEO & content onboarding (fillable PDF)

New client onboarding

General new client questionnaire (fillable PDF)

Before – after

No more WhatsApp briefings: Before: A three-minute voice message that you listen to three times; the information scattered across chat, email, and phone. After: One PDF with all the answers, neatly structured, searchable, and filed in the project folder.
Budget instead of gut feeling: Before: "How much does a website like this cost?" – "It depends." The quote misses the mark, and the negotiation begins. After: Budget range, timeframe, and a fixed deadline including the reason are settled before you write the quote.
Taste becomes tangible: Before: "Modern, but not too modern" – and three rounds of revisions until it's clear what was meant. After: Style sliders, role models with reasons, and a no-go list: the first draft hits the right direction.

Note

Usable with: Adobe Acrobat Pro
Licence: private and commercial Rights of use

Created with love by

Stefan Petri

Together with his brother Matthias, Stefan Petri runs the popular specialist forum PSD-Tutorials.de and the e-learning platform TutKit.com, which focuses on the training and further education of digital professional skills.

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